Computer traders blamed for Wall Street crash (New Scientist)

Who would have guessed a magazine for scientists would be reporting about a market crash, but with so much equity and listed derivatives trading driven by algorithms and trading strategies designed by scientists the connection is not as far as it may seem.

Algorithmic trading is well established, but the speed at which trades are executed – usually milliseconds – is shrinking fast: by a factor of 10 since 2007, says Kevin McPartland at Tabb Group, a firm based in Westborough, Massachusetts, that studies financial markets.